Every morning, the growing murmur of engines and the purr of heavy vehicles mark the beginning of a routine that is repeated in almost every major city in the world.
But something is changing.
In some sectors, the buzzing sounds heard do not come from a truck, but from a drone flying over buildings carrying a small box. On the sidewalks, a robot the size of a suitcase makes its way through pedestrians.
Will these new urban players be able to replace traditional delivery vehicles and definitively transform traffic in smart cities?
“The last mile, the most expensive in the delivery”
By: Gabriel E. Levy B.
For decades, urban logistics revolved around a centralized scheme: large distribution centers from which trucks and vans brought goods to shops and homes. This model, although efficient on a large scale, generated a persistent problem in the last sections of the route: the so-called “last mile”. According to McKinsey & Company, this last part of the logistics process accounts for more than 50% of the total cost of delivery. Not only that, it is also responsible for a significant part of urban congestion, the emission of polluting gases and the deterioration of public space.
In the 90s, with the rise of e-commerce, the demand for fast deliveries grew exponentially. Congestion by delivery vehicles became common in commercial and residential areas. Companies such as UPS, DHL and FedEx increased their fleets, while thousands of independent couriers began to tour cities on motorcycles, bicycles or small cars.
But with the advent of new technologies – such as aerial drones and autonomous ground delivery robots – came a seemingly science-fiction possibility: delivering packages without resorting to internal combustion vehicles or human drivers. The challenge, since then, was to integrate this alternative without collapsing the already fragile urban infrastructure.
“Smart cities and the challenge of moving better”
A smart city is not defined only by sensors or buildings with home automation, but by the ability to adapt its infrastructure to human needs. And in that equation, mobility is key. Traffic congestion, noise and pollution are urgent problems that require radical solutions.
According to the World Economic Forum’s “Shaping the Future of Urban Delivery” report, if the current model of urban delivery is not changed, by 2030 carbon dioxide emissions from logistics will increase by 32% in the world’s major cities, and delivery times will grow by 21% due to increased congestion. The document proposes, among other solutions, the mass adoption of drones and messaging robots.
Drones have the advantage of operating in low airspace, dodging ground traffic. Some models, such as Alphabet’s (Google) Wing, already make deliveries in suburban neighborhoods in Australia and the United States. Its flights are scheduled to avoid high-density areas and minimize risks. At the same time, autonomous robots such as those from Starship Technologies roll at a pedestrian pace along the sidewalks of cities such as Milton Keynes (United Kingdom) or Tallinn (Estonia), carrying food and package orders.
Both technologies are designed to optimize last-mile delivery, preventing dozens of pickup trucks from traveling narrow streets or congested areas. But their implementation also requires a city capable of integrating them without generating conflicts with pedestrians, cyclists or other actors in urban mobility.
For urban planner and academic Carlos Moreno, promoter of the concept of “the 15-minute city”, the key is to reduce the need for motorized transport and promote a denser, more mixed and connected city. “Drones and robots can help, but they do not replace the urban redesign we need,” he warns.
“Traffic doesn’t disappear, it just changes shape”
Will taking hundreds of trucks off the streets reduce traffic? Not necessarily. According to studies by the MIT Media Lab, the introduction of new forms of delivery without clear regulation can, in some cases, worsen congestion. This happens when robots move slowly on sidewalks without adapting to the pedestrian flow, or when drones multiply their journeys to deliver individual units that were previously grouped into a single shipment.
In addition, the efficiency of these systems depends on several factors: energy autonomy, load capacity, flight or journey times, airspace regulation, and social tolerance to their presence. In cities where the infrastructure is not yet adapted, the presence of these devices can generate new urban tensions.
Urban mobility expert Mariana Alegre, director of Lima Cómo Vamos, points out that “technology alone does not solve the underlying problem. If we continue to promote individual and urgent consumption, any technological solution becomes just a band-aid.”
In fact, the logic of immediate consumption – stimulated by platforms that promise deliveries in less than an hour – can increase the number of trips, even if they are made by robots. This generates new traffic, invisible from the seat of a car, but evident in the rhythm of cities. The low airspace begins to become saturated, the sidewalks become narrower, and the noise of the technological hum replaces that of the combustion engine.
“When the future is already rolling (or flying) between us”
Cases are already abundant. In Helsinki, LMAD robots deliver to controlled environments, such as technology parks and university campuses. In San Francisco, the company Serve Robotics deploys robots with LED faces that automatically stop at any pedestrian and open with an app to deliver restaurant orders.
In Colombia, Rappi is experimenting with small robots to deliver orders in Medellín, while in Japan, Panasonic is testing prototypes of robots guided by artificial intelligence to deliver packages in residential areas of Tokyo.
For its part, Amazon presented its MK30 drone, designed to overcome adverse weather conditions and deliver packages of up to 2.2 kg in less than 30 minutes. Walmart, in partnership with DroneUp, already makes air deliveries to several cities in the United States, adding thousands of flights each month.
However, these experiments still coexist with disparate realities. In many cities in Latin America, broken sidewalks, logistical informality, and lack of regulation make efficient implementation difficult. The technology exists, but the environment is not yet ready.
The challenge is not only technical, but also cultural and political. Are we ready to share the city with these new actors? What spaces will have to be ceded, what rights and responsibilities will arise in this new ecosystem?
In conclusion, drones and courier robots can reduce the presence of trucks on the streets and, with it, alleviate some urban traffic. But their impact will depend on how they are integrated into broader urban planning, focused on sustainability and equity. It is not just about replacing vehicles, but about rethinking how and why we move around the city. The future of mobility is not in the sky or on the sidewalks, but in the collective ability to redesign the space we share.
References:
McKinsey & Company (2016). Parcel delivery: The future of last mile.
World Economic Forum (2020). The Future of the Last-Mile Ecosystem.
Carlos Moreno (2020). The revolution of proximity.
MIT Media Lab (2019). Autonomous Delivery: Challenges and Opportunities.
Mariana Alegre (2021). Interview in La Silla Vacía.
